Editor's Note

The Charge

Opening Statement

The "monster's ball" is the name given to a criminal on death row's
final night when he or she is given a special meal and access to materials that
would perhaps not normally be allowed. A $4 million independent production from
Lions Gate using this phrase as its title and riding the notoriety of a steamy
sexual encounter in the film between the two main characters played by Billy Bob
Thornton and Halle Berry, seemed to appear out of nowhere late last year. It
quickly became the darling of the critics and appeared on many ten-best lists
for 2001. Lions Gate Home Entertainment has now made Monster's Ball
available on DVD in a fairly nice package given the film's low budget
nature.

Facts of the Case

Hank Grotowski is a corrections officer heading the death row detail of a
southern U.S. penitentiary. His detail includes his son Sonny, whom Hank rides
hard as they practice the procedures for the imminent execution of convicted
murderer Lawrence Musgrove. At home, Hank also has to deal with his racist
father, Buck, himself a retired corrections officer and now a semi-invalid who
spends his time filling scrapbooks with the latest information on death row
happenings. On the day before Musgrove's execution, Musgrove's wife Leticia and
their son Tyrrel visit Musgrove one last time. All these characters will play
integral roles in changing Hank's life in shocking and surprising ways once
Lawrence Musgrove's execution is carried out.

The Evidence

Monster's Ball is by no means the best film of 2001 as some have
suggested. Nor does it contain an Academy Award Best Actress performance as
given to Halle Berry. It doesn't have Billy Bob Thornton's best work either. It
lacks a fully coherent script. As entertainment, it has little repeat value. So
why then is it worth seeing?

I suspect there have been times when you've come out of a theatre feeling
that what you've seen isn't quite the great experience you'd expected, yet the
film stayed with you long after and served as food for endless discussion?
Monster's Ball is such a film. The questions raised and the emotions
evoked more than compensate for the film's shortcomings. Whether the holes in
the script or the actors' performances are responsible doesn't really matter,
because it's the issues that are important, probing at the nature of
contemporary society and its characteristics as they do. For instance, why is
the barbarism of state-sponsored electrocution still acceptable? How long does
it take for intolerance based on skin colour to be weeded out of our psyche? Can
we ever hope to break the chain of like-father-like-son behaviour that hands
down the worst aspects of human character from generation to generation? It's
good that Monster's Ball makes us question these issues and think about
the positive, if in some cases limited, steps that have been taken over the past
half century to address them. The sad thing is that the film would have you
believe that little has really changed in society in these respects. Sadder
still is the fact that in some areas and in some minds, nothing has changed.

Much has been made of Halle Berry's Best Actress win for her portrayal of
Leticia. The plain truth is, however, that any number of actresses could have
done as good a job as her with the role. She handles the scenes that require
facial expression to convey emotion quite well, but when physical actions are
required, her efforts are often overwrought. It doesn't help, either, that the
script offers a role that requires misplaced depth and range. It tends to ask
for extreme emotion or action when it's not justified (Leticia's outburst over
her son's eating/fatness) and lack of same when it is (her response to finding
out that Hank presided over her husband's last hours on death row). As far as
the Oscar was concerned, it was simply another case of righting past wrongs.
Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, and especially Sissy Spacek all delivered
performances that were more worthy.

Billy Bob Thornton does a fine job as Hank. For his performance, he sucks
the emotional life out of Hank and gives the character an inscrutability that is
essential. The necessity arises from another script inadequacy—the lack of
any satisfactory reason for Hank's sudden transformation into a loving,
thoughtful individual. Yes, we realize that Hank's early racist actions are more
to satisfy his father than a true reflection of his beliefs, but his hatred of
his son seems real. We can surmise that his apparent change is all related to
[Spoiler Alert!] his son's suicide and his son's last words, but no period of
adjustment is ever implied nor any realistically motivated seeing-of-the-light
suggested. Thornton's work reminded me of his portrayal of Ed Crane, the barber
in The Man Who Wasn't There,
although he isn't quite as relentingly low key. It works here for the most part,
although his best performance continues to be his Oscar-nominated role in Sling Blade.

Director Marc Forster did not have a lengthy filmography behind him when
undertaking this film, yet he at least had learned enough to allow the film's
various scenes to play out fully, lingering over conversations when many other
contemporary films would opt for the quick cut. In one of the DVD's
commentaries, both Thornton and Berry comment on their pleasure about this. It
seems a small thing, but it adds immensely to the air of reality that any film
of this nature should aim for. (In one instance, though, he goes too far when he
allows Leticia to ramble on in the scene leading up to the well-publicized love
scene with Hank.) Forster is a strong advocate of non-visually-intrusive
direction and that is well reflected in Monster's Ball. Camera setups are
simple and straightforward, and distracting camera movements are minimal.
Forster was closely involved with the music score and it is a powerful aspect of
the film. Characterized by simple themes and only a few instruments (several
electronic guitars, a piano) processed in different ways, the effort was a
collaboration between three composers (Chris Beaty, Thad Spencer, Richard
Werbowenko).

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the best performance in this
film—that of Peter Boyle as Hank's father, Buck. Buck is an unapologetic
bigot and now an aging man confined to the house and entertained by the
television and his scrapbook—a link to his own past as a death-row
corrections officer. Boyle, absent from the big screen for several years and now
66 years old, portrays the character forthrightly and with a chilling
effectiveness that shows so clearly how Hank has come to be the way he is with
his own son. Heath Ledger also is notable as Sonny.

Lions Gate's DVD presentation of Monster's Ball looks very good,
considering the low-budget nature of the production. The image transfer is
2.35:1 anamorphic and is quite crisp given the occasional graininess in the
source material. There are a number of difficult dark scenes (including the
impressive opening credits) and rainy sequences that remain rock solid with deep
blacks and good shadow detail. Colour fidelity is quite good and edge
enhancement is not a concern. Thumbs up to Lions Gate on this effort.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio track provides a generally pleasing
complement to the film's images. Dialogue is a little variable in volume, but is
clear for the most part. The most impressive part of the mix is the subtle yet
effective use of the surrounds that imparts a very natural feel to the film. The
film's music score is nicely rendered. A Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround mix is also
provided as are subtitles in English and Spanish.

We get two audio commentaries, both involving director Marc Forster. On one
of them he talks with cinematographer Roberto Schaefer; on the other, he joins
Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry. I had high hopes for the latter, but alas, a
more self-congratulatory piece I haven't heard. It seems to consist of Forster
either stating what's happening on the screen or praising the actors for how
good they were in a certain sequence, to which the actors respond with praise of
their own about how Forster framed the action or allowed them the time to draw
so much out of the scene. After a while, it just becomes annoying. The
commentary with Schaefer, though somewhat dry and definitely technical, turns
out to be far the more informative piece.

Rounding out the supplements are four deleted scenes, four minutes of not
particularly interesting behind-the-scenes footage of Billy Bob Thornton's
methods of preparing for various scenes (not over one hour as stated on the DVD
case), a trailer for the video release, an interesting seven minute featurette
on scoring the film, and a hidden trailers for a recent Sundance success,
Everything Put Together, and three other Lions Gate releases (Chelsea Walls, The Rules of Attraction, The Cat's Meow). Nowhere in evidence is the
IFC Anatomy of a Scene, also publicized on the case.

Closing Statement

While not quite worthy of some of the hype it received last year,
Monster's ball is an interesting film that certainly holds your
attention. The plot has many surprises, but also a few holes that ultimately
detract from the film's final impact. Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry deliver
fine work in the principal roles, although nothing award-worthy. The disc is
recommended although the repeat value of the film is questionable.